3.5 stars.

Gina Chung's debut novel is an inventive take on the "recently single woman tries to find herself after the breakup" trope—but this one adds some intriguing futuristic touches to the usual narrative.

Ro was just broken up with by her boyfriend Tae, who is going on a mission to colonize Mars. She finds comfort by spending time with Dolores, the grossly oversized octopus that's held at the mall aquarium where she works. Because of toxicity in the Bering Strait (now called the "Bering Vortex"), sealife like Dolores are adversely affected by the noxious chemicals in the water. Ro's father left his family repeatedly to travel to the Vortex and ended up disappearing on one of his trips when Ro was a teen.

Ro's coping mechanisms involve binge-drinking and shunning her best friend, whose upcoming marriage serves to amplify Ro's losses. Although Ro starts the novel on a self-destructive path, Chung wisely gives us glimpses into her childhood, where we see how her Korean-immigrants parents' dueling personalities and purposes caused them to neglect their daughter.

At times it felt like Ro's loss and self-loathing were so murky and suffocating that she would never find her way to the surface and overcome the depths of despair. Yet hope—and renewed purpose—do shine through a bit. This isn't a book that gives Ro easy answers or even an ending of complete closure. And some plot points felt too open-ended (Ro's habit of purposely drunk driving without consequence). Overall, though, I did like it and was absolutely compelled to read to the end. Chung has a distinct literary voice, and I'm intrigued about what story she'll tell next.